Welcome to the Norfolk Island Museum's blog. We are lucky to be located in the most beautiful part of a stunning island in the South Pacific. We are a little island, but our history and stories are great - from Polynesian and convict settlements to the home of the Bounty mutineers. Hopefully you'll enjoy our stories.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Norfolk Islander's continue the traditional methods for unloading freight from cargo ships. The island has no 'safe harbour', there are two jetties on opposite sides of the island for the cargo to be landed. The 'lighterage' method involves a lighter towed by a motor launch to ferry the goods between ship and shore. A derrick crane and nets are used to lift and move the cargo in and out of the lighters.

Sea
freight was the only method of importing items to Norfolk Island until the
building of the airport by American and New Zealand servicemen in 1945. Commercial flights began in 1947 and the opportunity to import
items by air freight shortly thereafter, but to this day over 90% of imported
goods are transported by two cargo ships which visit the island on a once every five week schedule.

In
the early hours of Saturday morning 11 May 2013 a senseless act of vandalism happened on Cascade Pier when lighter No.1 was deliberately set on
fire. Not only was the lighter completely destroyed but also the island’s
supply of cargo nets and the spreader beams used for transporting cars and trucks on the lighters when they were lashed together for this purpose.

The
long awaited decision was finally given for work to commence on the building of
a replacement lighter. Work began immediately by John Christian-Bailey of JCB
and Dean Burrell, an experienced boat builder, under the watchful eye of the Lighterage
Manager, Glen Williams.

In
its lifetime, a lighter earns approximately $2.2 million in revenue for the island and carries
approximately 30,000 tonnes. It takes four
months to build from start to finish, 4,000 thousand copper nails to hold it together and is in use for up to twenty years. It
is a practical object; a work of art and a legacy to the men who are building it.

Peter Horrocks, of the Museum Trust, moved that the building of the lighter be photographically recorded for inclusion in the Norfolk Island Museum Collection.

Janelle
Blucher, A/g Director Curator and Gaye Evans, Asst. Curator/Conservation Officer
visited the Lighterage Maintenance Depotat Middlegate and spoke with the Manager of
Lighterage, Glen ‘Snoop’ Williams and Dean Burrell, local shipbuilder. The frames hang vertically from the ceiling until such time as they are needed.

The plank for the
keel has been carefully chosen and placed into position.

Work on the bowstem has commenced.
This must be strong enough to endure the years of toil the lighter will give to
the Island whilst ferrying cargo.

Regular posts on the building of the lighter will be uploaded to this blog.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Janelle Blucher, Acting Curator of
the Norfolk Island Museum is delighted to be a part of The Bounty Adventure Cruise experience on
P & O’s cruise liner, Pacific Pearl.

P & O's Pacific Pearl on The Bounty Adventure Cruise

This is a
fantastic opportunity to promote the Norfolk Island Museum and our Island’s heritage and culture. After two days sailing the liner
sailed into Norfolk Island on Sunday morning 11
October and a welcome sight to see the passengers disembarking at Cascade. A
special day on Norfolk
was enjoyed by passengers and islanders alike.

The Norfolk Island Museum's Kingston Heritage Walk with
Jeanine Snell... they just didn't want it to finish

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

The Pacific Development and Conservation Trust of New
Zealand have confirmed their most generous financial support for our project
titled “Documenting, Researching and Conserving Pitcairn Island’s Material
Culture”.

The Pacific Development and Conservation Trust (PDCT) was
established by Trust Deed by the New Zealand Government on 23 May 1989. The
money for the Trust was received from the French Government in recognition of
events surrounding the destruction of the Rainbow Warrior vessel in 1985.Some of us might recall Norfolk Island’s
connection to this incident with the vessel Ouvea
arriving at Norfolk Island after smuggling explosives and other gear into New
Zealand.Thirty years has passed since
the explosion of the Greenpeace vessel that tragically killed photographer
Fernando Pereira, just earlier this month the French secret-service agent who
led the attack made a public apology for his actions.

We at the Norfolk Island Museum are extremely pleased and
excited to be provided with the financial resource to pursue this project. The
aim of our project is to locate, document and provide conservation advice on
Pitcairn Island’s material culture that is held with the communities on Norfolk
Island and New Zealand.

'Bounty' kettle

The permanent
population on Pitcairn Island has been decreasing rapidly in recent times with
the islanders migrating mainly to New Zealand.The cultural material is leaving the island along with the people
putting the provenance of the material at risk and creating potential for these
objects to be lost.

This is a two stage project.Stage 1 is to identify and document Pitcairn Island’s cultural material
located in New Zealand and Norfolk Island while Stage 2 will focus on Pitcairn
itself.This initial successful grant is
to facilitate stage 1.

The need for this project has been identified through
feedback from Norfolk Islanders visiting Pitcairn Island, and also by our
relationship with the Pitcairn Island Museum, whom have little resources to
undertake this type of project themselves.

This project is fundamental to the protection of Pitcairn
Island’s material culture.No previous
projects have provided for such a holistic approach to ensure material is
identified and documented. This project also explicitly acknowledges that there
is a distinct Pitcairner culture created through the historical circumstances
of its 18th century establishment by Polynesian and European
forebears:its development on Pitcairn
and later Norfolk Island. Today, these objects are an important part of this
heritage.

'Bounty' cannon

Documentation of this material
and associated knowledge about its cultural contexts, uses and significance
will form a focus for future community interest in its material and cultural
heritage, as well as provide a body of material for researchers – wherever they
may reside, through physical and digital access.And what a valuable gift this will be to the
future generations of Pitcairn and Norfolk Islanders.

Individuals will be given the opportunity to tell their
stories about life on Pitcairn Island.They
will have the opportunity to have these stories recorded for themselves and
their families. Participants can showcase their material culture and
connections to Pitcairn Island.Basic
conservation advice will be provided to ensure the objects remain in good
condition, objects will be photographed and their history recorded.This information will form a comprehensive
database.The Norfolk Island Museum
will be the repository and access point of this data base of material,
information and research enabling full and direct access to the community.

The Pitcairn and Norfolk Island culture is intrinsically
interwoven; this project is imperative to protect our shared heritage and
culture.It also offers a fantastic
opportunity to develop research, learning and curatorial outcomes.

We’ll keep you posted, in the meantime please contact us at
the Norfolk Island Museum - your knowledge and ideas are important!